Panelists for the League of Cincinnati Theatres (LCT) have recognized the Clifton Players“™ production of A Behanding in Spokane with 5 LCT nominations, for director Kevin Crowley, lead actors Reggie Willis and Buz Davis, featured actor Michael Bath, and for Ensemble acting, as well as distinguishing it as a recommended production.
Martin McDonagh wrote a half-dozen plays that established his international reputation in one fell swoop back in the 1990s.. In 2010 he brought a new stage script to Broadway, A Behanding in Spokane, and it“™s set not in Ireland but in the United States.The piece fulfills the expectation that a McDonagh script is going to be full of plot twists and at the same time hilarious. The main character, Carmichael, is on a quest to find something he has lost and to get revenge on the person who took it from him. The lost item is an actual bodily appendage, which proves to makes the story quirkier.
Panelists praised Kevin Crowley“™s direction: he “œhandled this crazy play with precision“; “œa nice balance between the real and the fantastic.“ Buz Davis “inhabited the role as one-handed Carmichael. His heart came through the freakiness”; Reggie Willis as Toby was “œover the top“. Featured actor Michael Bath as Mervyn was “œfrenetic, funny, and deeply affecting“. The ensemble as a whole “œsparkled like a gem and played off each other marvelously well.“ Overall, the show was “œbeautifully bawdy and wonderfully crass, absurd and excellently conceived…the actors hold nothing back to bring this play to surrealistic life. The Clifton Players are an impressive group and would be that way in any sized house….anywhere.“
A Behanding in Spokane continues through March 23rd. Tickets can be purchased at http://cliftonperformancetheatre.com.
Final LCT awards will be determined at the end of the season and announced at the LCT gala in the spring.
